Wisconsin Soccer Central

Facing a must-win situation Sunday night, the Milwaukee Wave slowed down Missouri Comets standout forward Leo Gibson. But Gibson's teammate picked up the slack in attack, and the Comets clamped down defensively to end the Wave's season again.

Max Touloute had a hat trick and 11 players got on the scoresheet as Missouri dropped Milwaukee 8-2 in Independence, Mo., to complete a two-game sweep of the Major Arena Soccer League Central Division finals.

Max Ferdinand and Ian Bennett scored for the Wave (15-10), who saw the Comets end their season for the fourth consecutive year. Bennett finished with 44 goals in 25 matches overall this season, while Ferdinand had 22 goals and a team-best 23 assists in 24 appearances in his first season with Milwaukee.

Ferdinand's goal 7:24 into the game Sunday tied the score at 1, but John Sosa – who set up Vahid Assadpour's opener – gave top-seeded Missouri (19-3) the lead for good 2:29 later with the first of what proved to be five straight goals for the Comets.

Down 6-1 in the fourth quarter, the Wave pulled goalkeeper-assistant coach Nick Vorberg (17 saves) in favor of sixth attacker Jonathan Greenfield. Milwaukee got one goal back through Bennett, but Missouri scored twice in 20 seconds to ensure its spot in the Eastern Conference finals against the Baltimore Blast (17-4).

Gibson, who had five goals and an assist in the Comets' 10-5 victory in Friday's Game 1 in Milwaukee, set up Touloute's finale with 6:03 left for his only point Sunday. It was just the second time in 20 matches this season Gibson has been held without a goal – the other was Jan. 9 in a 10-3 loss to the Chicago Mustangs; Missouri has won eight in a row since then.

• The Wave's 2-0 win over Chicago in the Game 3 mini-game of the divisional semifinals March 6 was the 700th for the team in all competitions. In 32 seasons, Milwaukee – the oldest current continuously operating professional soccer team in the U.S. – is 700-486 in all games and 645-440 in regular-season matches.